


a daring escape

by SidewaysClarinet



Series: pirate adventures [1]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, F/F, Forced Marriage, Inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, Lady pirates lady pirates!, Shura runs her own ship!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28155156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SidewaysClarinet/pseuds/SidewaysClarinet
Summary: Hello! I caved and made more for this pirate au lol! Hope you all enjoy!
Relationships: Kamiki Izumo/Moriyama Shiemi
Series: pirate adventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2062620
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	a daring escape

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I caved and made more for this pirate au lol! Hope you all enjoy!

As soon as a corner is available to hide behind, Izumo grabs Shiemi by the arm and yanks her around it. There’s a door just barely cracked open, and she decides within seconds that it can’t be any more dangerous than the shouting guards behind them, and so she ducks in it. As soon as Shiemi is safely within the door, she eases it closed and leans her entire body weight against it, slapping her hand over her mouth. When Shiemi looks at her with wide eyes, she tosses aside years of ingrained manners and slaps a hand over her mouth too.

They both wait in tense silence, hardly daring to even breathe in the darkness of whatever the shack must be. The voices of yelling soldiers grow closer, and she tenses. Shiemi’s eyes begin to tear up, and she reaches tentative fingers up to hold Izumo’s, barely hiding the trembling of her body. Izumo can’t bear to look at the fear in her eyes, not when their chances of escaping could be dashed away so suddenly, and instead looks down at the mud-splattered hem of Shiemi’s wedding dress.

Some hopeful part of her remarks that if she can get the stains cleaned out, they can maybe pawn the dress off for enough money to grab a ship. It makes her chest swell, the thought of being able to be free and away from the years she’d spent in servitude, but she tampers her hope.

The soldiers aren’t gone yet.

“...servant with purple hair!” one of them declares, loudly. “And a noble woman in a wedding dress! Any information on them will be handsomely rewarded!”

Izumo abruptly feels dread begin to weigh down on her, and one glance at Shiemi reveals that the other woman feels the same. If the soldiers are announcing what they look like, then it’ll be that much harder to escape without being followed. There is still shouting and conversations outside the door, but to her relief, they begin to fade. They’re almost certainly doomed to fail, but if nothing else, they’ll have at least a few hours to get a head start.

Shiemi’s forehead abruptly falls down to Izumo’s shoulder as soon as the hand at her mouth is released, and Izumo’s eyes widen. Tentatively, she reaches a hand up to the back of Shiemi’s head, gently carding through what little of her hair remains loose in her elaborate style.

“I can’t believe we did that,” Shiemi whispers, sounding equal parts horrified and enthralled. “We really got away!”

“For now,” Izumo corrects. It’s not in her nature to be hopeful, but Shiemi’s energy is, as always, infectious. “We have to get rid of our dresses. And- And disguises, we’re too recognizable.”

Shiemi nods. “Right. I… the dress, I… it would have been much easier if we had planned this out, yes?”

She begins to giggle a bit, and Izumo fights down her own urge to laugh along. She fails, of course, and can’t help the chuckle. The entire escape had been… utterly insane. Sure, Shiemi had joked about wanting to run away before, but to actually do it?

And Izumo, she had gone along with that. More than that, she had even instigated it! It was completely unlike her, to care about a noble of all people, but when she had seen the tears in Shiemi’s eyes at the sight of the aisle she was to walk down to marry that Lord Amaimon… she hadn’t even thought twice about it. Shiemi needed freedom, and hell, Izumo did, too. It seemed like the right choice at the time to grab her lady’s hand and whisk her away from the entire ordeal.

And she didn’t regret it, really. It would just be difficult to sort out the rest, to say the least.

“We can make it work,” she says, after a moment. “Your dress, we can sell it somewhere, and our jewelry. If we get far enough down into the slums, they won’t even question us.”

“But what do we do in the meantime?” Shiemi asks, eyes wide as she leans up from Izumo’s shoulder. “We can’t- we can’t go around naked, and even then…”

_ She’s right,  _ Izumo thinks with a frown. They have to find disguises just to get the money to find disguises, how ironic? It’s then that she decides to look around the shack, and is grateful to find it completely lacking in other people. It looks like some sort of house, though a certainly poorly type. She can spot a pallet of a bed and something like a kitchen, though she quickly spots the most important thing in the room; a pile of clothes by the bed.

They smell suspicious and certainly don’t look any better when she crosses the room to examine them, but they look vaguely about her and Shiemi’s size. She quickly shucks off the many layers of her servants’ dress and tosses them aside for now, before picking up a pair of trousers that she shoves her legs into. As she buttons the pants up, she looks at Shiemi to gauge what will fit her, ignoring the other woman’s rather disgusted look at the clothing.

“Can you get the upper dress off?” she asks Shiemi, a bit apologetically. “It’ll go faster if you undress yourself.”

Shiemi nods, and her expression shifts to one of determination. Izumo lets her be, instead focusing on finding a loose-fitting shirt to cover her breasts. She layers on a shirt over that for extra protection, and ties her hair back with a strip she rips off off the hem of her dress. On top of that, she pulls on a hat, and prays that her ‘boyish’ features will come in handy for once.

Shiemi, however, will have no such luck. Without the top layer of her dress, and even with her corset half off, she still looks unmistakably feminine. Her face is too soft, and her hair is too long, and her own chest and waist are far too obvious to be concealed. She notices a flush on Shiemi’s face at Izumo’s obvious examination, and quickly turns her eyes back down.

“My dress might fit you,” she says, trying to plan on the fly. “The chest won’t, but we can find something for a shawl. It’ll help cover your hair, too.”

Shiemi nods, dropping her corset reluctantly to the floor. Her wedding dress sits in a sad-looking pile, but Izumo, for one, is glad to see it off of her. “Can you help me with my hair?”

Izumo wordlessly crosses the distance to stand behind her lady, fingers quick in taking down the same braids and loops that she had spent all morning creating. For some reason, destroying them is far more satisfying, and she takes a small amount of glee in freeing Shiemi’s long blonde hair from its confines. When it’s all loose, she ties it into a loose bun, then steps back to admire her handiwork.

“You’ll have to keep it hidden,” she comments. “It’ll be too recognizable otherwise.”

After that, she helps Shiemi into her servant’s dress, ripping open the back hems to give it more space. The loose threads are gaudy looking, but Izumo tears a shawl off of her underskirt and throws it up over the back. It’s an ugly outfit altogether, but it conceals Shiemi’s identity well enough, and it’s the best they can do for now.

A second of tension passes where they both look at each other, and she knows without knowing that they’re both thinking of the same thing: how the hell are they going to pull this off?

“We’ll make it work,” Izumo says. She’s not sure if she’s trying to reassure Shiemi, or herself. “We’ll catch a boat somewhere, we’ll figure things out.”

It goes unsaid that as two unmarried women, it’s very unlikely that they’ll get far at all. It comes with a feeling of deep set hopelessness that she tries to set aside—for her lady, at least. She kicks aside the remains of her old clothing save for what remains of the underskirt, which she uses to bundle up what they can of Shiemi’s wedding dress. The rest of it goes into pockets and shoved into clothes, trying to hide away as much as they can. 

When it comes time to take off the rest of Shiemi’s jewelry, she does so quickly, save for the ring on her ring finger. It’s a band of dark gold with a green gem, and it would be prettier if not for the man who had all but forced it onto her. They both look at the ring, and Shiemi chuckles.

“Is it bad that I just want to… toss it into the ocean?” she asks, quietly.

“It wouldn’t be if we didn’t need the money,” Izumo replies, but smiles anyways. It’s the most unforgiving suggestion Shiemi has ever made, and she’s proud of her lady, in a way. Shiemi had always been quiet and obedient, always the respectful noble woman who did as she was told. It’s nice to see her finally breaking free of it all. There’s a spark there that Izumo has never been allowed to see before. 

But God, the urge to fan it into a flame is overwhelming.

She looks up at Shiemi, and allows herself a little grin. “Let’s get going, yeah?”

“Right!”

It’s nerve-wracking to step out of the shack so soon after the soldiers have left, but it’s comforting to see that the crows hadn’t abated any. It was easy enough to slip into the crowd, utterly anonymous and faceless. Shiemi reaches forward to grab her hand as Izumo leads them through the throng, and the warmth of her hand has Izumo flushing a bit. She shoves the reaction aside, instead focusing on the path through the city.

The streets get progressively darker and dirtier as they go, coated in dirt and mud and substances she doesn’t even want to think about. They’re ignored for the most part, and the soldiers must have already combed through here, because there’s a relieving lack of them as well.

The two of them find a shop quickly, with a surly manager who doesn’t bother to look up at them when they hand over Shiemi’s wedding dress to pawn off. Izumo keeps her lady behind her, and blocks her from view when the shophand beside the manager starts to get a little too curious. Just to make sure they get the hint, however, she leaves a few extra coins behind, a small part of what the manager pays them for the dress.

He raises an eyebrow at them, finally looking up, but takes the coins and says nothing.

They scamper off to another shop, a jewelers, where Izumo gives the owner the rings and necklaces and a small hush fee. They’re left with more than enough money to last them a few days, maybe even a few weeks if they were careful. Izumo knows Shiemi is doubtful of how much they’ve gotten, and Izumo knows. They definitely could have gotten more had they visited more high end shops, but they don’t have that luxury right now. She’ll take whatever they can get.

From there, she leads Shiemi to another section of the slums, a slightly more respectable place that she knew from her childhood to have good clothes and owners who kept their questions to themselves. She gets Shiemi something more put-together, whatever they can afford to spend on it, and keeps the outfit she already has on. The men’s clothes are doing admirably to conceal her identity, but she knows that Shiemi needs something to make herself more ambiguous.

A decent hat is quickly bought, and after a second’s thought, she buys a second pair of men’s clothes. They’ll be good as back-ups for herself, but also as some good running clothes for Shiemi if it ever comes down to it.

A few hours later, they’re comfortably disguised and stocked up on enough money to last them a fair while. Izumo leads them both to a quiet restaurant with secluded tables, and after they’re served tea and a small selection of snacks to tide them over, it’s time for a game plan.

“I think,” she starts, voice low. “That we should see about going to the Myo Dha first. I hear they’re the religious type, we should be able to call for asylum there. As far as I know, they don’t have any ties to Lord Mephisto or Lord Amaimon, or to the Illuminati. We should be safe there.”

“Right,” Shiemi agrees. She doesn’t say much more after that, and her gaze is glued to where her hands are wrapped around her tea.

There’s something unreadable in her eyes, and it pushes Izumo to ask her. “My lady? Are you alright?”

“You don’t have to keep calling me that, ‘Shiemi’ is just fine,” she says, smiling, but it looks forced. “I just… thank you for this, Izumo. For all of this.”

“It’s fine, I was eager to get out of there anyways.” She waves a hand flippantly, but it doesn’t seem to ease Shiemi’s expression. If anything, her smile seems to die further.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t help much with that, did I?” Shiemi asks, looking regretful.

“You… I believe you did what you could,” Izumo responds. She finds, after saying it, that she genuinely means it. “Besides, this is a fresh start, right? New country, inevitably.”

“You’re right,” Shiemi says. A few seconds pass, and her eyes seem to brighten, little by little. “A fresh start! We’re making a fresh start together!”

“Oi!”

The sudden voice startles them, and they both look up. There’s a man standing there— more importantly, there’s a man standing there wearing a soldier’s uniform, and he looks as if he recognizes them both. Izumo shoots up from the table and grabs Shiemi, yanking her away just as the soldier starts to charge towards them. 

Screams and shouts ring out as Izumo dodges around patrons and tables, shoving people out of the way with her free arm in her bid to get to the door. As soon as she’s there, she yanks it open and shoves Shiemi through, turning back to slam the door shut behind her. The coolness of the afternoon air does nothing to soothe her pounding heart, but it does bring the scent of beer and alcohol to her nose.

She looks to the side to see a stack of barrels, and immediately reaches her hands out to yank them all down. Someone shouts at her, but she ignores them, shoving and stacking the barrels up in front of the door. Shiemi eventually helps her, and they get a wall up high before they can do no more. With that blockage in the way to hopefully slow the man down, she takes Shiemi’s hand once more and turns tail.

She knows then that it was the right thing to do to find a restaurant by the sea. The docks are only a short distance away, and teeming with people and trading tents alike. She slides into the crowd, dragging her lady behind her, and quickly tries to get them lost in the thrall of taller people. It’s when she’s just stepping in front of a couple to hide the both of them that she hears the crashing of barrels, and a shouting match breaks out somewhere behind them.

“Stop those women! The one in the shawl!” someone shouts, and Izumo feels the color drain out of her face. 

Immediately, she reaches back and rips Shiemi’s shawl off, tossing it to the wind. The soldier may have recognized them, but if he convinces everyone else that her only remarkable feature is the cloth, then losing it should help. Someone stumbles on it behind her, and more murmurs of aggravation and irritation break out as the crowd is stopped up behind them.

There’s a valley of tents just before them, and Izumo ducks into them, weaving between tents and people alike. Her death run is abruptly broken by Shiemi pulling on her hand, and in a moment of instinct, she follows; Shiemi yanks her down, and she doesn’t question it. A heavy cloth falls over both of their heads, and suddenly they’re entrenched in darkness.

Shiemi holds a finger up to her mouth. Izumo nods in response, holding her breath despite the way it makes her heaving lungs ache in protest. They wait in tense silence once more as they hear the shouting of the soldier and the people in the market, but the voices don’t come towards them.

“We have to find a boat,” Shiemi whispers, wide-eyed. Izumo nods in agreement they don’t have the luxury of choice anymore. They’ll have to take whatever’s available.

At least, that’s her thought before the sound of an explosion rings out.

It rattles the ground and breaks the air so thoroughly that they both clutch at their ears. They both know at once that the table they’re hiding under isn’t safe anymore, and Shiemi backs out, holding the cloth up for Izumo to scramble out behind her. 

The air that they enter into is dusty and fogged, enough so that they’re both coughing within seconds. It’s hard to see through, and even harder to hear through with the yelling and screaming that rends through the air. Another explosion, and more screaming. Wood comes flying all around them, and cloth tents begin to fall, flaming debris raining down all around them. 

For a second, she’s frozen, looking desperately for a way out of the destruction. The only answer is that there’s a pirate attack going on, and isn’t that just perfect timing? Now they have to fight against damn pirates and the guard all at the same time! She scowls, before reaching back for Shiemi’s hand again. There’s a way out just to their left, and she doesn’t hesitate to run, dragging her lady behind her.

“How are we supposed to find a ship in this?” Shiemi shouts behind her.

“I don’t know!” Izumo yells back. “Whichever one isn’t on fire!”

They manage to make it to the dock by dodging bullets and screaming people, weaving around dead canon balls and holes in the ground. There’s one ship that isn’t on fire, and it’s close enough that they can climb aboard. She crouches down by a box just beside the ship, keeping Shiemi close behind her as she carefully watches where a woman with a sword cackles as she cuts down a soldier in red. Her hair is a violent red, and Izumo knows all at once that it’s a death wish to engage with the crazed pirate who cuts down soldiers as easily as a knife through butter.

There’s an opening when the woman retreats behind a hailstorm of bullets, and she disappears somewhere in the smoke and fire. Izumo leaps up from the ground, pulling Shiemi forward and onto the dock’s boarding deck.

They run up the wood, panting and ducking down beneath the gunfire and explosions. Izumo steps behind to push Shiemi up first, getting her safely down onto the boat’s deck before she makes to hop down herself.

“Ah-ha!” a voice says, suddenly. Izumo freezes as a sword is suddenly held to her throat, and her eyes follow the gleaming metal down to a hand, connected to- fuck.

The same red-haired woman as before. She’s grinning, and she has an arm around Shiemi, whose eyes are glued fearfully to the blade at Izumo’s throat. Izumo gulps, looking at the woman instead.

“Please,” she says, quietly. “I’ll- I’ll leave, just take her, please? Keep her safe?”

“It’s not like me to turn away women in need,” the pirate hums, looking down at Shiemi in her arms. She nods, then looks up to Izumo. “But I ain’t takin’ men on my ship, hear me?”

That was it? Izumo’s eyes widen, and she reaches a hand up quickly before the woman can stop her, ripping her hat and hair tie free. Her purple locks fall loose from their previous hold, and Izumo looks down at her. The pirate’s grin widens almost ferally.

“Well, welcome aboard, then!” the woman crows, pulling her sword back. “C’mon, get down and outta the way! We’re gettin’ our asses outta here pronto!”

Izumo, flooded with relief, hops down onto the deck just as Shiemi is released. She immediately runs forward to grab Shiemi up into a tight hug, and the other woman returns it just as desperately. She closes her eyes for a long moment—she was willing to leave Shiemi behind for her lady’s safety, of course, but something had scared her at the prospect of being alone again. If there was anyone she wanted to be stuck in this situation with, it’s Shiemi.

When they pull apart again, the woman is grinning at them once more.

“The name’s Shura, Kirigakure Shura,” she introduces, giving a sarcastic little bow. “Tell me yer names later, but I meant that shit. Get outta the way, ‘kay?”

Izumo nods and wordlessly obeys, ducking out of the way with Shiemi as other women come hurdling onto the deck. They’re all coated in various amounts of gunpowder and blood, and they cackle and whoop as they retreat back onto the ship. A few of them glance at Shiemi and Izumo as they pass, but they shrug and carry on anyway, evidently not caring about them much. 

“Is that really her?” Shiemi whispers behind Izumo, holding on to the fabric of her shoulder. “Shura Kirigakure?”

Izumo turns away from the boarding women and instead to Shiemi, sequestering them off into an out-of-the-way corner before continuing their conversation. “Why? Is she important?”

Shiemi nods, wringing her hands nervously. “There’s- there’s rumors that go around, that she’s a nure-onna, and just as fierce as one too. They say she comes to ruin arranged marriages, and she’ll destroy entire villages for having them.”

“Then she sounds like a good ally, right?” Izumo asks, giving a wry little smile for Shiemi’s sake. The other woman nods and her lips turn up hesitantly, the seriousness fading away.

God knew they would be needing allies now. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and criticisms are always appreciated!


End file.
